Breaking News Today – Wednesday 19 August 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

• South African workforce management startup Jem has raised $8.4 million in a Series A funding round led by Quona Capital, with participation from University Technology Fund, E4E, Next176/FutureGrowth, and angel investors including former Old Mutual CEO Iain Williamson. In An interview with Business Tech Africa Yesterday, c0-founder Simon Ellis said that the company is ready to launch a range of new products and expand the group’s footprint across several African countries. Their success he said had been built on listening carefully to client’s pain points and then delivering. JEM supports more than 250,000 workers across 200 odd companies, while recurring revenue has grown over 100% year on year.
• Nigeria’s Terra Industries, a defense technology company building autonomous security systems to protect critical infrastructure across the Global South, has raised an additional US$18 million in strategic funding to close its seed round at US$52 million. Terra will use the funding to open its first international office in London, expand manufacturing capacity, accelerate deployments across the Global South, and grow its engineering, operations, and business development teams.
  
  

Business News Today 

Electricity Price Reforms Proposed By South Africa

South Africa proposed sweeping changes to its electricity-tariff framework, that will be the biggest reform of its pricing policy in almost two decades. The plan is set to be published in the government gazette for public comment on Friday, 21 August. According to the minister, the plan includes introducing a 10-year pricing forecast, unbundled tariffs, and extending its negotiated pricing agreement program to sectors beyond the mining industry, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday. South Africa is implementing a series of reforms aimed at ending state power utility Eskom’s century-old monopoly by splitting it into three separate units and bringing in private suppliers. At the same time, it’s redesigning tariff structures so they better reflect the cost of supplying electricity.

Political Policy Certainty Set to Boost Zambian Markets

Zambia’s Lusaka Securities Exchange (LSE), has stated that it expects up to $1 billion in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) to follow this year after the presidential election saw incumbent President Hichilema’s re-elected this past week. The according to the exchange, has boosted business confidence and eased concerns about populist policies. The LSE’s main index saw strong growth last year, creating favourable conditions for capital raising. Zambia’s copper industry has provided a major boost to the economy and financial markets. Copper accounts for around 70% of the country’s export earnings, and higher prices alongside rising production demand have improved sentiment toward the country. For the Lusaka Securities Exchange, the combination of political certainty and the copper boom could see companies that had delayed fundraising to return to the market.

Fuel Price Shock For South Africa

Mid-month figures from South Africa’s Central Energy Fund, indicate that 93-octane petrol could see a jump of 66 cents a litre in September, while Ninety-five octane looks likely to climb by 77 cents a litre. Diesel users could be hit harder, with prices looking to lift by as much as R2.90 a litre. Experts say rising global oil prices and unrest in the Middle East are to blame, even though the rand exchange against the dollar has improved during August. The collapse of the US‑Iran ceasefire reignited tensions, with risks in the Strait of Hormuz only partly offset by “dark” shipping routes that skirt blockades. Around 60–70% of South Africa’s refined fuels (petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, jet fuel, etc.) are imported, leaving the country highly impacted by global fuel prices and constraints.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:  

• Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery has secured a $1 billion underwriting programme for its planned stock market listing that could become Africa’s largest IPO. The underwriting comprises a fully funded $600 million tranche for the refinery’s completed private placement and a further $400 million commitment to support the planned initial public offering,
• Gold traded around $4,350 an ounce today after dropping nearly 2% in the previous session, pressured by elevated global bond yields amid growing fiscal concerns and persistent inflationary pressures. The 30-year US Treasury yield reached a 19-year high this week, while sovereign yields across other major economies also climbed to their highest levels in decades.
• The stock prices of Chinese major Alibaba, jumped by around 5% on the Hong Kong bourse, after Alipay rolled out a new “all-in-one” platform for businesses aimed at using AI agents to automate tasks. Alibaba shares have climbed by more than 40% from a low in June this year, recovering from investor selloff earlier this year.
• The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Confidence Index rose to 125.4 in July from 123.5 in June. Higher new vehicle sales, stronger merchandise export volumes and lower fuel prices were the main drivers of the monthly improvement.
• Copper futures slipped to around $6.45 per pound today, extending the previous session’s losses as a pickup in metal deliveries to London Metal Exchange warehouses helped relieve a historic supply squeeze. LME copper inventories climbed by 20,000 tons on Tuesday, marking their biggest daily increase since April, with Trafigura Group reportedly responsible for a substantial portion of the inflows.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar marginally lower today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.15834 while trading against the Pound at 1.35395 The Yen is currently trading at 159.39 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading around the 16.24 mark against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are 0.4% up this morning, and currently trading at around $4352.27 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are around -0.5% lower this morning, with prices currently around $6.4513 per pound
• Silver futures are down by -0.6% today, and currently trading at around $62.883 per ounce.
• Platinum futures are down -0.38% this morning, and currently trading at $1727.20 while Palladium is -0.43% lower today, and currently trading around $1288.00 per ounce.
• Lithium prices have seen a -1.2% fall today, and currently at CNY151 650
• Brent crude oil prices are trending 0.63% higher today, and currently trading around $91.59 with WTI trading higher at $85.61 currently
• Cocoa futures are down around -2.5% today, and currently trading at $5919 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are up around 4.58% today, and currently trading at around $3.3245 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are down by -0.57% today, currently trading at around $64 318 per coin.
• Ether prices are trending -0.23% lower this morning, and currently trading around $1911.70

(All prices as quoted at approximately 06H25 Central African Time) 

African General News Briefs:

• Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected for a second five-year term after securing a 60% share of the vote, the electoral commission has announced. Hichilema’s win was widely expected, with his closest challenger Brian Mundubile getting 38% of the votes cast. The remaining 12 candidates trailed far behind. Mundubile, 55, has said he will mount a legal challenge to the results, saying his NRPUP party had evidence that there were voting irregularities. Hichilema, 64, said in a statement: “We are truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands.”He said the election showed that Zambia was a place of peace, law and order and a “democratic nation that settles our differences at the ballot box, and nowhere else”.
• Liberia is the latest state to agree to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States, the country’s Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters in the capital, Monrovia. The first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive in the country this Thursday (20 August). The country would be accepting deportees who are nationals from Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.